


Work In Progress

by Greyneurosis (Spylace)



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chuck Lives, Chuck is a Brat, Gen, M/M, Nobody is Dead, Platonically, abuse of relics, and discovers chuck is good with his hands, and maybe later sexically?, herethro never mentioned again, mako is the ultimate wingman, need more love for mako, through mysterious means, where raleigh breaks something
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-09
Updated: 2014-03-09
Packaged: 2018-01-15 03:31:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1289617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spylace/pseuds/Greyneurosis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck is a sort of, kind of genius. </p><p>Raleigh is smitten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Work In Progress

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a prompt on Pacific Rim Kink Meme and gosh, you think by now I would have learned to copy and paste.

Raleigh liked to think that the years spent on the wall weren’t a complete waste. He would never feature on home improvement channels but he was handy with duct tape, he could fix a leaky faucet and finish a drywall with his two hands. But he stared woefully down at the wreck at his feet of what used to be his Walkman before it went spinning out of his hands into the nebulous beyond the moment a harried ground crew collided into him.

“OhmygoshI’msososorry!” She squealed, choosing to do it in a way that made her words run together like soup. “I didn’t see you! Are you okay? I’m sorry! Is it broken?” The woman winced as he grabbed his Walkman, the shiny tape spilling from its cracked case like fresh kaiju innards. “Oooohhhh... I know, I bet Chaz could fix it.”

“Chaz” He repeated, mourning the Walkman which was perhaps the only relic from his former life. Hope kindled in his heart. “Where can I find him?”

The woman suddenly looked deeply, deeply uncomfortable.

“Miss?” Raleigh prompted to which she replied “Baby Hansen.” Before flushing past her hairline in mortification.

He tried not to smile. She explained hurriedly, “No Australian in his right mind would call himself Chuck and we’ve known him since he was an ankle-biter.” She bit her lips. “Please don’t tell him I said that.”

“Cross my heart.” He promised and as though a switch had been turned off, her eyes gleamed with manic ferocity.

She hauled him in by the collar. “Listen here Ranger, Chaz is a pain in the arse sometimes but he’s a good kid. Mess with him and you’ll have us to deal with.”

Coughing, she stammered “Maybe I can take it to him instead?”

 

Chuck wasn’t in his quarters, or the kwoon, the cafeteria, or any number of little places he assumed the younger Ranger would be. Out of desperation, he waved down the attention of a drivesuit technician who pulled his lips back in misguided loyalty to a snotty brat barely out his diapers.

“Ranger Hansen is in the K-Science division.” The man said haughtily with an unvoiced _duh_ at the end.

Raleigh bristled. “What’s he doing there?”

The other man glared daggers at him.

“He is _working_.”

And with a dismissive snort, the techie turned away.

 

Contrary to the techie’s predictions, Chuck was stretched across a seat eyeing his surroundings in ill-disguised contempt. Even he had trouble suppressing the urge to torch the entire place when he saw parts of _things_ squirm and twitch like they were alive. An inward shudder went through him when the section of a brain stuck to his side of the glass.

“The numbers don’t lie Professor.” Chuck drawled at the end of an obviously heated debate.

Gottlieb shot a triumphant look at the bispecled scientist who began to hop up and down in agitation.

“There is no way the Kaiju can maintain this level of biometric production. The permutation of their adaptive...”

“But you said it yourself, they’re not from Earth.” Chuck interrupted with a touch of a sneer. “To beat ‘em you’ve got to understand them.” He mocked. “And that means you can’t discount the idea they might breed like rabbits wherever they come from.”

Raleigh accidentally knocked over a tray. Various instruments, cotton balls and a squishy purple thing scattered across the floor. With a short curse, he put everything back—including the squishy purple thing.

Three sets of eyes were staring at hm.

“I... I’ll just...” He gestured towards the door and coughed. “I’m gonna go now.”

 

Gottlieb called a meeting for the supposed ‘double event’, sparing no gory details now that they didn’t have the UN breathing down their backs. But because they had no UN breathing down their backs, they had to decide what they were going to do next. Standard procedure called for advanced warnings, press conference, interviews and strategy. With each successive wave of Kaiju stronger than the last, Gottlieb grimly presented ‘Category V’ on the scale.

But throughout the meeting Raleigh kept being distracted by Mako and Chuck sitting in the back, sharing a rubik’s cube like it was high school English. His copilot, Mako would be his copilot even if it killed him, glowered at the shiny green side Chuck presented as though it had personally offended her. There was more twisting and turning and Raleigh had to fight hard not to crane his head to see what the crazy kids were doing back there.

Tendo, who had opted to sit beside him instead of up with the rest of the senior PPDC officers, stomped on his foot.

“Oww…!” He hissed, “what?!”

With a small noise at the back of his throat, Tendo cocked his eyebrow to the front where the Marshal glared at him promising retribution.

“Are we boring you Ranger?”

“Err ah, no sir.”

Chuck sniggered.

 

After that, it was hard not to notice Chuck even when he wasn’t being a complete asshole. In his uniform, he looked just like any other ranger in training, eager for a chance to pilot one of the last jaegers left on the planet. Avoiding them had become an art. But he had had plenty of time to practice in the time since Knifehead. Also, he needed his Walkman fixed.

He found Chuck playing shogi with the Weis. Judging by the incessant gloating, the younger pilot was winning. The fraternal triplet nudged his brother’s shoulder and gave him pointers on where to move. The identical triplet rolled his eyes and moved to Chuck’s camp. The gaming triplet scowled.

“Becket” Chuck nodded, flicking one of the flat pieces off the board.

“I hear you’re the man to go to when things go broke.”

“Depends” The younger pilot raised his gaze in interest at the broken pieces in his hand.

Raleigh winced reflexively. “Accident, fell out of my hand actually. Can you... I don’t know... do anything?”

Carefully lifting the parts out of his shoebox, Chuck shrugged and said “you’re in luck. Can’t do anything about the tape but should be an easy fix.”

Relief swelled within him like a tidal wave.

“Thank God” Raleigh said out loud. “You have no idea how much this means to me. It used to be Yancy’s and it’s the only thing I have left of him. It, it” he stammered. “It means a lot to me. Thanks.”

Chuck smiled, his lips twisted awry.

“My mum used to have one of these.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. Raleigh was going to say something when one of the Weis, he didn’t kid himself on telling the identical pair apart, interjected slyly “ _Chuck, ask him for payment._ “

Raleigh blinked. Mandarin wasn’t his strong suit.

Chuck raised an eyebrow and stretched out “Why?”

_“Ask him on a date.”_

The younger pilot barked back something in kind though he immediately translated “I’m not doing that!” He had a feeling Chuck was doing it for his benefit. He certainly didn’t seem to have difficulty wrapping his tongue around the funny syllables.

_“But he's your one true love. You want to marry him.”_

Jin nudged Hu grinning so wide it was uncanny.

_“You want to kiss him.”_

Chuck turned red around the ears.

Standing abruptly, Chuck grabbed him by his hand and pulled him away.

“Come on Becket, let’s get out of here.”

 

Raleigh’s hand tingled even though Chuck had let go well over an hour ago.

He wondered if that was what people meant by never wanting to wash their hands again.

His shoebox dropped unceremoniously on his lap.

“Here” Chuck growled, some of the redness still smudged across his cheeks. He held Yancy’s Walkman in his hand, unbelievably whole and intact with the earphones wrapped around the middle.

“What do I owe you?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

Chuck shook the Walkman in his face. “Look, if I wanted payment I would have said so.”

“But, but” he burst out. “You don’t even like me.”

The Australian pilot stared like he was an idiot.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Let me take you out to lunch at least.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“We get fed here,” Chuck said slowly, in case Raleigh was hard of hearing. “For _free_.”

For once, the blatant condescension didn’t rankle him as it should have. Raleigh shrugged depreciatively, disappointed by the smackdown. “Maybe the pleasure of my company?”

When that didn’t receive its due mocking, Raleigh looked up to discover that Chuck’s face a uniform red. The freckles had all but disappeared from under his eyes and across the bridge of his nose. The younger man thrust the Walkman in his stomach and quickly turned away. Raleigh coughed and changed the subject.

“I can’t believe the crew lets you touch her like this.” He said, referring to the open panel beside Striker Eureka’s foot.

“It’s no big deal.” Chuck mumbled. “Been around jaegers all my life.”

“So have I.” Raleigh countered. “But you should have seen my crew when I tried to push a button on Gipsy that wasn’t remotely related to missiles.

Chuck laughed.

 

“You are friends.” Mako said in surprise when Chuck sauntered off with Max at his heels, making Raleigh wonder how he was maintaining that perfect ass if he never _ate_.

“Huh?” Raleigh asked, proving once again that you did not need a PhD to jockey. “Oh yeah, um, I asked him to fix something for me and he um, did. It’s no big deal.”

Mako’s look implied that it was.

“He’s a good kid. He’s really smart.” He finished lamely. “I can see where the attitude comes from.”

The Japanese pilot hummed noncommittally, the glimmer in her eyes reminding him just what exactly he thought about Chuck’s attitude when they first met.

“I’m glad you think so.”

 

He began to have daily chats with Chuck in the loading bay.

It was refreshing. In his days everyone had kept their mouths shut and head down about the management, hyperaware of UN’s omniscient presence. Now, as the last of the resistance, they were free to talk shit about anything and everything.

“You’re the one who was on the wall mate.”

“I never said it wasn’t stupid.” Raleigh grumbled.

“Clearly if you’re still gunning for her.”

“You think Mako can’t take it.”

“I know she can.” Chuck drawled, eyes raking him appreciatively. Raleigh preened a little, showing off. The one thing wall did was keep him in shape. “But can you?”

“Oooh burn.” Someone hissed from behind him.

Raleigh said with dignity “I’m still in my prime you know.”

“That’s what my dad says too.”

As though realizing what he’d said, Chuck coughed “Not that... you’re nicer to look at.”

He felt a grin split his face.

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

 

“You’d think I was trying to marry her.”

“Aren’t you?” Chuck asked sharply, cursing when he was accidentally grabbed a livewire.

“Be careful!” Raleigh grabbed the younger man’s hand to check. The thumb was bruised yellow like a melon rind though it showed no other signs of electrocution.

“Oi, I need that hand.”

“I just know that we have a connection.” Ignoring the younger man’s grumbling, he expertly rolled medical tape to the base of his thumb. “She’s the best out of all the candidates. It’s only right she gets a fair chance. Anyway” he sighed, letting Chuck free. “You gonna come and watch?”

“Wouldn’t want to miss you getting kicked out on your arse.”

“Lunch?”

A moment of hesitation and Chuck replied “...You’re buying.”

 

“You are in a very good mood.” Mako greeted him, trying to starve off the nervousness. “Chuck?”

“Yeah” Raleigh grinned. “You ready Mako?”

 

After Chuck’s outburst, Raleigh had a single thought. Everyone was hearing this, everyone was thinking this. No one tried to refute it, not Mako who vibrated with tension. Not Herc who held his jaws stiff and his son still but eyes sparking with vibrant anger. Not anyone who refused to meet his eyes over their lunch trays.

He and Mako had lunch in an alcove overlooking the loading bay.

“The worst part is that he was right, I’m the more experienced pilot.”

“He did not have to be cruel and you have been away for five years.” Mako reproached. “I should have suggested simulations.”

“The real thing is different.” Raleigh said wistfully.

The sirens began to wail.

 

There was a brief lull after Otachi and Leatherback. Raleigh knew he should have gone to Chuck then, asked him if he still thought of him as the washed-up has-been and maybe apologize about the broken nose.

He didn’t.

Raleigh was so busy rubbing it in the moment he saw the younger man’s nod of recognition that by the time he caught up with him in the drive suit room, he and Herc were saying goodbyes and it would have been impolite to intrude. Many times their hands had gone to the comm. link—Mako because the Marshal was her father and him because he wished that he had tried.

Operation Pitfall happened and before he knew it he was choking on the blue skies, propellers churning the air like it was trying to brush away the aftermath of a storm.

He’d survived.

Mako survived.

And it turned out, Chuck hadn’t died after all.

 

It was a good thing, he tried to remind himself. Chuck was alive and Herc was ecstatic Striker Eureka had protected her pilots one last time.

But Raleigh sat in his room, toying with the Walkman he had yet to unravel from when Chuck dropped it into his hands. It was useful for introspection and feeling like an asshole for not paying the younger pilot a visit. Maybe it didn’t matter—he thought desperately. Chuck was hardly in shape to receive visitors and no matter what the bond they had struck up the past few weeks, he wouldn’t want anyone to see him in such a vulnerable state. Right?

He would have drowned himself in alcohol a while back if he’d been sure he wouldn’t get mobbed on the way.

Mako poked her head in. She looked radiant, her hair re-dyed to add a red stripe next to the blue. These days, her footsteps seemed to have an extra bounce in them even though she denied it vehemently whenever he mentioned it. When he mentioned it. With guilt he realized he’d been neglecting his copilot as well.

“You are being stupid.”

She said bluntly.

“I can’t just waltz in there. I need time, he needs time. Herc probably wants some time with him too.”

“Marshall Hansen claims Chuck is driving him crazy and volunteered several of Striker Eureka’s ground crew to entertain him.” Mako quoted. She stared down at him. By this point, he knew her thoughts as intimately as his own.

Message received, _you are a coward Becket_.

“Chuck is a child.” His copilot conceded. “But he is honest. I think he would appreciate a visit from you.”

“Well maybe I don’t want to see him.” Raleigh muttered.

“You promised him lunch.”

Raleigh let out an undignified snort.

Mako sighed.

“I did not want to do this.”

With a swipe of her hand, she knocked the Walkman out of his hands.

 

“Again Becket?” Chuck croaked when he saw the familiar shoebox in Raleigh’s hands. He grimaced and reached for the cup at his bedside, his tongue wiping across the fissures on his lips.

Raleigh hurried forward to help.

“I have an excuse this time.” He said, helping Chuck drink.

Somehow, the younger man ended up inhaling the water and spilling it all over his shirt. While the nurse scolded and Raleigh tucked himself in a chair like a misbehaved labrador, he heard Chuck wheeze “that’s what you said last time.”

“It’s a good one.” Raleigh insisted, grabbing Chuck’s hand. “Why don’t I tell it to you over lunch?”

 


End file.
